1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cassette adapters, and more particularly, to a cassette adapter for mounting a small cassette containing magnetic tape in an information signal recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as a video cassette recorder, which uses a larger cassette.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Small or "compact" video cassettes have been developed for use with portable television cameras and recorders to reduce size and weight. The compact cassette is smaller in size than a conventional video cassette, and thus cannot be directly received in a video cassette recorder that uses conventional video cassettes. In order to operate with a compact cassette on the conventional size video cassette recorder, a cassette adapter must be used therewith.
In a compact cassette, magnetic tape is wound between a supply reel and take-up reel. The supply and take-up reels are normally locked from rotating when the compact cassette is not in use.
In a compact cassette adapter for enabling a compact cassette to be used in a record/playback unit which normally uses a larger cassette, one or both of the supply and take-up reels of the compact cassette must be released from the locked state during a tape loading operation, in which the magnetic tape is unwound from one or both reels, withdrawn from the compact cassette, and guided into the adapter. However, the position of the loaded magnetic tape can become unstable, i.e., it may not be properly aligned and tensioned in the adapter during the loading operation.
Furthermore, if both the supply and take-up reels are not locked after completion of the loading operation, the magnetic tape can become slack, making it difficult for the record/playback unit to operate on the tape. Of course, the reels must be unlocked after the adapter is mounted in the unit to carry out a record and/or playback operation.